The first official photo book on ABBA

Photo: abbasite.com

There is a lot of things going on around ABBA, although the group was disbanded 30 years ago: The ABBA museum in Stockholm will open on May 7, Agnetha Fältskog is about to release her new solo album and today it was announced that the first major official photographic book on ABBA is planned for release in April 2014.
 
The official ABBA site http://www.abbasite.com/ tells that "Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid are contributing with their foreword and providing comments and personal insights to accompany the 500 classic, rare and previously unseen images in the book"

The name of the game...uh, the book? ABBA – THE PHOTO ALBUM.

https://www.facebook.com/ABBA

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=644338698925179&set=a.320764431282609.95890.124611394231248&type=1&theater

ABBA documentary cancelled from broadcast

The ABBA documentary that was planned for broadcast on SVT, Swedish public service TV, has ben cancelled.
The broadcast of the Dancing Queen documentary was set for April 10 but one week before that SVT changed the plans. The reason behind that was that the production company had problems with the rights to the material. SVT explains that they do not know if or when the documentary will ever be broadcast.
The documentary deals about the recording of the song Dancing Queen and also includes a newly made interview with two ABBA members, Björn Ulvaeus och Anni-Frid Lyngstad.

Ex Abba members in rage over nationalist party

The Danish nationalistic party Dansk Folkeparti re-wrote the Abba-song Mamma Mia for their congress last weekend. The authors Benny Andersson och Björn Ulvaeus are not amused.
TT Spectra and Aftonbladet reports that Dansk Folkeparti's youth association changed the words in the chorus to "Mamma Pia" to honour Pia Kjaersgaard, the leader of the party.
However, nobody asked ex Abba members Benny Andersson och Björn Ulvaeus for permission to use the song.
"First of all: you are not free to rewrite songs just the way you want, and secondly: They must get that we are not interested in supporting their party", says Benny Andersson to news agency TT Spektra.

The case is now in the hands of lawyers of their publishing company Universal Music.

Will not sue Dansk Folkeparti
Update September 24, 2010: Universal Music Publishing will not sue Dansk Folkeparti. Olle Rönnbäck, head of film and tv on Universal Music Publishing tells TT Spektra that the song was performed at a meeting that was not open to the public:
"And they told us they will not perform it again, so that's it."

Björn Ulvaeus of Abba dislikes X-Factor

ABBA legend Bjorn Ulvaeus tells The Daily Mail/Mail on Sunday that he finds reality music shows such as The X-Factor 'cruel'.
Ulvaeus accuses TV talent contests of killing creativity in British music:
'They want to polish off the corners to make them all smooth and mainstream. I think that's wrong'.
Not bad for a guy who once was in a group that by Swedish left redicals were considered as something very bad, mainstream and commercial.

Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1303102/Thank-music-Not-X-Factor.html#ixzz0wfHR7FiC